Digital Album

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Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.Buy the NEW "Concessions" digital album by The Good! and your download will include a free PDF booklet with all the lyrics, band photo, credits, and original artwork by artist Mary Blake. Your download will also include 8 different album covers, so you can use the one you like.

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Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

The Good: CONCESSIONS was mastered for vinyl, and it's finally here and available to ship immediately. You can own the first Good album to grace a turntable ever! Get your copy now and after you purchase, you'll also be able to download the album digitally—immediately—for free.
Includes unlimited streaming of Concessions
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

about

The Good: CONCESSIONS is the band's first full studio album since 2000. It's an album of songs about movies: recent movies, classic movies, great movies, strange movies; movies that made us laugh, cry, or write slamming rock operettas about them. There are songs sung from the perspective of lovers, killers, time travelers, film directors, hookers, mafia men, invalids, amnesiacs, femme fatales, cyborgs, lawmen, criminals, soldiers, swingers, explorers, news reporters, and car salesmen... as well as a handful that cross into the slightly less interesting lives of the songwriters. We could tell you exactly what movies we drew inspiration from, but isn't it more fun to guess? It isn't like there aren't any clues.

credits

released May 27, 2016

Produced by Manny Sanchez and The Good
Engineered by Manny Sanchez
and Mike Sportiello at I.V. Lab Studios in Chicago
Additional engineering by Chris Harden,
Paul Aluculesei, Tony Rogers, and John Scholvin
Mixed by Manny Sanchez
Mastered by Brad Blackwood at Euphonic Masters

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about

The GoodChicago, Illinois

The Good is the creation of singer / songwriters Tony Rogers (tonyrogers.bandcamp.com) and Devin Arkin (who died from brain
cancer in late 2016), joined by John Scholvin (guitar), Dave Rothkopf (bass), and John Goodman (drums). The band began making waves on the Chicago music scene in the early 90's; they've released 4 critically acclaimed full length studio albums, and more....more

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When I was a boy I fell in
Into a hole and watched TV all the time
Buried in an avalanche of muse
I can’t even tell which stories are mine

Somewhere in time I slapped
My daughter my sister
And mister do you think I would lie
Just like politicians, whores, and ugly buildings
I’m respectable enough by and by

Before I die I’ll tell you I know why you cry
But it’s something that I can never do
All of it is lost like tears in rain
But Jerry let’s not ask for the moon

Not tomorrow but soon
You’re gonna need a bigger boat
You can’t fight in here
This is the war room man
And nobody puts baby in the corner
Get your paws off me, you damn dirty ape

Damn!
I love the smell of napalm in the morning
And I need you to just open the door
I’m sorry I’m afraid I can’t do that
I’m mad as hell, and I can’t take anymore

I’m just a prisoner of war
On the run from Johnny Law
No trip to Cleveland
Shakin’ the dust of this town
Norman you’re my knight in shining armor
Keep your chin up and your music down
Chin up, music down
We like to watch

Track Name: Don't Want to Live in This Time

I thought that I knew something about history
From a gray and wrinkled portrait point of view
Then I got lost inside a science fiction mystery
Confronted by a younger version of you

You were beautiful and everybody knew you were
But all the printed adulation left you dry
For all the sense I made
I might have been from Jupiter
But you knew me, without understanding why
I don’t

And there was I when there was you
And there were just the two of us, the two of us
But then I suddenly withdrew
I couldn’t get back through

This time has everything I need to live
What it doesn’t have is anyone like you

Don’t want to live in this time

Track Name: Living For Today

I can’t remember what I tried to forget
It’s like placing a bet
When you don’t even know what the game is

Maybe I did, or I’m going to do
Once I figure out you
Once I get my head ‘round what your play is

The more things happen to me
The more they fade away
The more I happen to see
The more I’m

Living for today it’s the only day
Living for today it’s the only way to be

I don’t recall what I started to say
Who I am anyway
I bet you could make a killing

Can I have your photograph
Else I won’t remember you at all
Everybody has to laugh
But I’m just

Living for today it’s the only day
Living for today it’s the only way for me

It’s not personal

Track Name: So Money

The less you hear about her the better she seems
Doing everything she’d never when you were a team
So much better now that you can’t get her

Who ya gonna call when you’re all alone
The ghost you know or the vamp who might say no?
Both are danger
But one is a stranger

And you’re so, but you don’t know
You’re so money, so money
Will you hurt the bunny?

When telephones had buttons and cords
You couldn’t ask her out without saying the words
It was hairy
Now there’s something about Siri

Because we’re so smart, we can’t even talk
Longer than the tick and the tock
Of the speed date clock
If you never hear no
There’s no way to know

That you’re so, but you don’t know
You’re so money, so money
You’re a bear, she’s a bunny

It doesn’t always end up like it does on the screen
What’s cool to one to another is grossly obscene
When you’re a bear you’re barely you
Nobody’s keeping score
All it takes is one and you won’t need money anymore

Because you’re so, and now you know
You’re so funny
Sweet as Tupelo honey
You can love somebody

Track Name: Is It Safe?

Is it safe trusting doctor or your babe
Is it safe steering clear or clear his name
Is it creepy in the hood
Method act misunderstood
Is it safe? Is it…

Safe running for Dad and Abebe
Is it safe, yes or no or maybe
Is it work or is it truth
Makes you free of pain and tooth
Is it safe

Run for your life
Unarmed
One little jar
Run far

Is it safe giving your heart to a stranger
Is it safe alone, worse than danger
Is it tiring on the path
Expiring in the bath
Is it safe? Is it…

Safe chasing ice in vain
Is it safe facing the white angel
Gun and sparkle in the drink
Running farther than you think
But is it safe? Is it…

Run for his knife
On the arm
Number scar
Run far

Run Run Run Run

Track Name: We Got Into a Submarine

How did we get so far underwater?
It wasn’t always like this
There used to be a time when we would kiss and talk
And do whatever lovers do

You know it wasn’t always smooth sailing work
We had to steer it wasn’t smooth sailing work
It would be harder than the smooth sailing work
But then we got into a submarine

How did we get so far underwater?
It doesn’t even make sense
If one of us survives you know it won’t be me
With you under the rolling sea

‘Cause it was you who always did the real work
It wasn’t me who ever did the real work
Unless you got us both to do the real work
Until we got into a submarine

Track Name: Off the Reservation

Down the river, went insane
Lost my start, avalanche of rain
I am higher, higher up by far
Errand boy, you know who you are

If we make it, let’s make it good
Let’s get lost in the wood
In the jungle, get big guns
Fly big birds, hit home runs

If we make it to the top we have to fall
There’s a list with lots of numbers
And we’re over them all
We’ve gone off the reservation
There’s no map in the jungle
I know, I’ve been this way before

Owe a debt to Joey C.,
Eat my shoe, and the T.S.E.
But we have choppers, we have floods
And the way it goes there might be blood

If we make it to the top we have to fall
There’s a list with lots of numbers
And we’re over them all
We’ve gone off the reservation
There’s no map in the jungle
I know, I’ve been this way before

In the jungle
Let’s rumble

Track Name: The Wee Hours

It’s the wee hours
And the bed’s ours
For the night if you can pay
You look funny
But if you’ve got money
I don’t got to see José
It’s not that I don’t like you
I just don’t love you for free
It’s just my way to say you’re doin’ good
Now get offa me

That’s our deal
Runnin’ naked from the Injun from hell
Our deal
Keepin’ secrets
And I always will

It’s my lunch hour
Got no power
But a deal that can’t be beat
But after all I’ve brought to you
You ask me what’s my fee?
You may not be a bank
But I need interest in me
‘Cause in the end
A real man’s gotta do much more than eat
That’s my deal
Lose it on a steering wheel
My deal
If you love her
Pay her bill

It’s eleventh hour
Gone a little sour
You ask me if we’re square
But you don’t get to tell me what I get
I get what’s fair
The guy with the bigger gun don’t win
It’s the guy who doesn’t care
It’s just my way to say I’m chewin’ wood
And you’re the fare

It’s the wee hours
And the bed’s ours
And the kid in your belly too
As you go off to catch the bad guys
Eggs are the least that I can do
It’s not that I am worried
‘Cause you’re the best at what you do
(you are)
It’s just my way to say
We’re doin’ good and I love you

That’s our deal
Night crawlers for an Arby’s meal
Our deal
3-centers will always sell
Our deal
Horsey sauce kiss
No one can tell
Our deal
I love you and I always will

Track Name: Tommy, on his way up in the world

Today
This is the day
Shine on your shoes
Press down your corners
‘Cause we’ll say
Can you remember how things were
Before today

Tommy D walks into a room
This is how it goes
He’s looking at zeroes and he does the math
And in an echo’s breath he knows
But he don’t want to
Nobody wants to

Nothing could be done about it
Nothing ever can
His assets were not covered
By his debts and to a man
We don’t want to see
We don’t want to be
Unwanted

When you’re tired of making it work
Don’t waste bullets in the dirt
Don’t concessions make you weak?
Open up your heart and show me

You said that it would hurt you
More than it would hurt me
The only the way that that’s true
Is if I’m under a tree
And the worms crawl in
And I can’t see any light
And I can’t feel any pain
And I’m permanent night
But I felt it so deep
Though I feel nothing now
I exploded to sleep
Oh my god I’m in heaven

And Stacks is wanted
And Billy is wanted
And Spider is wanted
And Morrie is wanted
And me

They want me

Track Name: Three Suns

I have come in a time machine to tell you this
You are old and inclined to dream and reminisce
You should know you are beautiful
In fifty-six years’ time
But I suppose you’ll want to know
If you’re still mine

When we met, wasn’t time for us to get too deep
Bluffed our way into wine and just refused to sleep
The future is more intricate
With steeper hills to climb
But I can guess you want to know
If you’re still mine

Is anybody yours?
Is everybody mine?
It’s something I don’t try to say to you
But I can tell you this
We both end up just fine
And one day we both laugh about this too

I have come in a time machine to bend your ear
I can tell in your mind you already left me here

Before your eyes the sun will rise

Track Name: Must Be Nice

It must be nice
To be the sharpest clipper in the shed
Take my advice
Or did you hear a single word I said?
Must be nice
To be the pretty face of a beautiful mind
But there’s a price
When the face becomes the leader from behind

Must be nice
Must be cool
Must rise above
Must be nice
Mustn’t be a fool
Unless you’re a fool for love

It must be nice
To hear what comes out here but say it there
You roll the dice that you don’t
But someone always cares

Must be nice
To never ever let ‘em see you sweat
Under the lights
We see we deserve just what we get

Must be nice
Must be cool
Must rise above
Must be nice
Mustn’t be a fool
Unless you’re a fool for love

Claim self-defense for severance
Incompetence can’t hide forever
Dollars and cents no recompense
For the offense
Forgive, forget, for never

Must be nice
Must be cool
Must rise above
Must be nice
Mustn’t be a fool
Unless you’re a fool for love
You’re a fool

Track Name: The Diving Bell

If I could say anything to you
I would say ice cream and open car and butterfly
But I am frozen
My words fail to reach you
My words hit the floor

It was a crime it was a shame
The way I treated you I wouldn’t blame you
If you left me planted in the dirt, or worse
But you didn’t punish me at all
Well a little bit, but less than I’d do
You’re an angel, not in disguise
Ooh, the diving bell
Is pulling me back down
Ooh, the diving bell
Just won’t let me drown

But for you, nobody came
If you’re counting women who could name me
As a lover, as my heart
Including the one who should have been the one
And you knew it, even if you held your tongue
She said she wants to remember me as I was
As I was

If I am not for myself
Who is for me?
When I am for myself
What am I?
If not now, when?
If not you, who?

Everyone comes to Rick’s

You must remember this
Ignorance is bliss
But it’s hit or miss
Blood for treasure not the only measure of the man
Will your only pleasure be your last stand
Wham bam thank you Sam

Everyone comes to Rick’s
But not everyone gets the chicks
Not just anyone gets the fix
Dangerous game, geopolitics
That’s why everyone comes to Rick’s

Come to Rick’s

Track Name: Prize Fight

You got nothing much to say
Why do I try to make it seem okay
You save your passion for your play
But you didn’t win, not today

Why do I feel like a prize that’s been tossed away?
How could I be surprised you and I lost our way?

Will you—
That’s right—
Now days—
God damn—
Leave me—

Tell me who am I to you
Why do I live, what can I do?
While you raise a can to whatever works
You’re just passing through

Why do I feel like a prize that’s been tossed away?
How could I be surprised you and I lost our way?

We will travel down this road
I can take you where you want
We can do whatever you need
We can be completely blunt
Go and find the things you had
Take the car into your past
Maybe it won’t be so bad
Maybe I’ll just be the dad

Listen—
Well just—
Would ya—
Shut up—

Why do I feel like a prize that’s been tossed away?
How could I be surprised you and I lost our way?

Track Name: Watching You Watching Movies

When you were only five
I brought a stack of movies home from the library
But they were too scary
You learned the bare necessities
But that tiger and that snake were simply
Too much for you

Even Bugs Bunny was only funny to me
Mom said Elmer’s gun was no fun
And I wondered when we

When will we like the same movies?
Talk about the parts that made us laugh and cry
Figure out why and how
And when will we sit under a bowl of kettle corn?
When you were born I dreamed
Of watching you watching movies

When you were just a girlfriend
You liked that I was almost famous—
Not too big for you
I was a tiny dancer next to you
Now I can’t remember if that was you
Who saw that movie with me

Every Mother’s Day I make a family movie
Now reviews are in
For the best supporting actor no one wins

When did we like the same movies?
Talk about the ones that made us laugh and cry
Do you know why we stopped
Laughing at late-night porn?
And now we mourn and nobody wants to watch
Nobody watches our movies

Can this over-budget epic
Be saved by a great director?
And which of us will end up
In shreds on the cutting room floor?
I’m trying to keep on tying balloons
But we’re running out of gas
I don’t want to hold you down
But I don’t want her to go up too fast

Tried The Red Balloon
But you were shocked that kids could be so mean
You’d never seen such mean

Fast-forward a year
Another film with balloons
Old man and a book
Made me look

Now that we like the same movies
Will we talk about the parts
That made us laugh and cry?
Figure out why and how?
And when will we sit under a bowl of kettle corn?
When we are born we dream

Track Name: Cutters

Wanna get there
Can’t leave here
Fear of fail
Your derailleur kicks you into a lower gear
It makes you push harder on the straightaway
Avoid the coast
Or here you’ll stay

Let’s go to the hole and jump right in
We cut the stone
But they think they own our hole and then
They get the girl
They rule the world
Won’t let us be lest we forget
That we are cutters
We’ll be cutters to the end

I’d face a lion with you three
Indiana’s home and I’m not a Roman
I thought I look better when I don’t sound like me
But I was wrong
The race is long
The finish line ain’t in Italy

Let’s go to the hole and jump right in
The water’s cold
We’re getting old but we wanna win
You go to school
You play it cool
We’ll never be this cool again
We’ve got each other
We’ll be cutters to the end

Let’s go to the hole and jump right in
The water’s cold
We’re getting old but we’re gonna win
We’re outta school
Slingin’ bull
But when we see our friends again
We are cutters
We’ll be cutters to the end

Track Name: Only One Rule

Only one rule
Don't talk about

Track Name: Let's Make a Movie

If we make a movie will it be a scary one?
Will you play the villain
But I won’t know that you’re one
Until approximately fifty minutes into the film?

Scary movies are fun
Fun movies are sad
If you’re the one that they laugh at
And sad movies are good
Good movies are something we could make together

When does your performance
Make a clean break from your role?
The thing about this process
Is we’re not always in control
In fact we might as well just let the cameras roll
And ad lib

Scary movies are fun
Fun movies are sad
If you’re the one that they laugh at
And sad movies are good
Good movies are something we could make together

Hold the light
I’ll read the part
We’ll get our shot here in the dark
I won’t be shy
Just wait and see
Let’s make it real
And you’ll say cut when we can’t go anymore

Let me roll it to you
The end of this movie will it be a happy one
Will it show us kissing
Or will one of us be holding a gun
And looking down into a red and fiery pit of revenge?

Let’s make a movie that we’ll watch again and again
Let’s make a movie that will outlive us and then
Let’s make a movie that will never ever end
Never ever end